The Devil's Party

Elements of Manhattan Melodrama and Angels With Dirty Faces are to be found in The Devil's Party. Though the two cited are better films The Devil's Party can certainly hold its own.

Back in the day four boys and the tomboy girl that tagged along with them who grew up to be Victor McLaglen, Paul Kelly, John Gallaudet, William Gargan and Beatrice Roberts commit a robbery in which a fire is started. The boy grows up to be McLaglen takes the rap for the rest and goes to reform school.

Fast forward several years and the grownups are now the owner of a swank gambling club and the girl singer attraction in same which would be McLaglen and Roberts. Paul Kelly has become a priest who runs a settlement house and Gargan and Gallaudet who are brothers are cops with ambitions to become detectives.

It's that ambition and the fact that McLaglen sends a pair of enforcers played by Joe Downing and Frank Jenks to collect a gambling debt and they kill the debtor sets in motion a whole string of events that pits the former pals from Hell's Kitchen against each other and it results in tragedy.

Some nice performances all around by the principal players make this B programmer from Universal something special. The Devil's Party is a real cinema diamond in the rough waiting to be discovered.

Devil's Party, The (1938)

** (out of 4)

Okay, the story here is pretty confusing but I'll try to explain it. Four kids, growing up in Hell's Kitchen, have their lives changed when the oldest pulls a prank, which sets a warehouse on fire. He's sent to reform school but twenty years later he's out on the streets as a gambler/night club owner. Two of the other friends are cops and another is a priest. The gambler sends a couple men to rough a guy up but they eventually kill him and the two cops are put on the case. This film only runs 61-minutes but it seems the screenplay was missing around twenty minutes worth of additional footage that might have tied up various plot holes. With that said, I found myself somewhat entertained but there's really nothing going on in the film. I've heard this was an influence on Leone's Once Upon a Time in America but that connection would be very loose. Victor McLaglen stars.

A group of young kids growing up in Hell's Kitchen form a lifelong bond. Because one refused to rat the others out, he goes to the reformatory. As adults they find their way to conflicting positions in society. Two cops, a priest, and a nightclub owner. The latter is mixed up in some shady dealings, mostly related to gambling. He hires a couple guys to rough a "client" up but they don't heed his limitations and kill the guy. This sets of a series of events where he is now under suspicion and brings about the death of one of his lifelong buddies. The film looks pretty good and it has that cool black and white element. Of course, honor is at the center, but that honor is not respected by the "really" bad guys. Victor McLaglan's character must confront his own miscues and face the music for his actions. It's not a bad movie, but there are absolutely no surprises and the characters actions are frequently pretty hard to swallow.

Pretty good thick-ear. Four Hell's Kitchen kids keep up their friendship into adulthood even though one has become a gambler (McLaglen), one a priest (Kelly), two are cops (Gargan & Gallaudet), and the girl (Roberts) a singer. Now their lives intertwine in problematic ways as crime confronts the law.

Looks like the plot's a variation on a familiar theme of the time (1930's)—kids growing up on opposite sides of the law only to confront one another later on. The concept creates a rich mine for conflicting emotions and loyalties. Here McLaglen has to navigate between gambling interests and loyalty to boyhood friends. The narrative sticks pretty closely to this line with its complications. The acting's okay, though emotions never build to an intensity. Instead, we're pulled along more by plot than characters. Certainly, McLaglen is capable of an intensity when so called upon, but not here. Oddly, there's not much action or violence despite the loaded title. I guess the two fires and smoke are supposed to justify the hellish expectations.

All in all, the hour seldom rises above programmer status, but might serve old movie fans on a slow evening.

This one wasn't bad - I expected the film to be far worse so it came as a nice surprise. It's not a great story but kinda fun to watch in a way. It's about the kid's club "Hell's Kitchen"... where a gang of kids, 4 boys and 1 girl, become friends. The oldest boy, Marty Malone, accidentally set fire to a building and was sent to reform school. Then the story fast-forwards to their adulthood where we find them meeting every year, the year we peer into their story there is a murder that leads to another murder - Marty Malone is involved.

All grown up: A night club owner, a singer, a priest and 2 cops. I found my favorite of the gang to be the Priest Jerry. He was the one trying to keep the others calm and reasonable.

It's not the grandest of stories but I found this one watchable and enjoyable.

6.5/10